BradleyBrave
New member
We lost to Loyola and SIU at home. The team you're citing also swept us. Not sure the scheduling argument holds much water.
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northern iowa?
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We lost to Loyola and SIU at home. The team you're citing also swept us. Not sure the scheduling argument holds much water.
tornado
New member
Bradleyguy10
New member
Everyone wants more wins yes, but you are acting like the reason our record is so bad this year is because we played such a tough schedule. I bet NO ONE on this board would have been complaining before the conference season if we would've just beat WCU and Loyola at home (which isn't much to ask). Yes maybe the occasional we didn't beat them bad enough but overall not much. Then tack onto that not losing these conference home games and I guarantee you people on this board would be crapping sunshine and lollipops. You act like we are unreasonable on our request to win...we could easily have a very good record this year with the schedule we had....because we are a team with good players...yet we aren't playing well. Therein lies the problem. How is this a difficult concept to wrap ones' head around? No one is saying we want more wins at the expense of the schedule...people are saying WE CAN be better than this WE SHOULD be better than this and WE ARE NOT playing like it...it's AS SIMPLE as that...no more no less. Just stop with the spinning of the topics.
SaintLouBrave22
New member
We do? Really? Maybe you could enlighten me?
As last I can remember, the last taste was TWO decades ago...
Buesch N Chips
New member
Right. Now apparently NCAA wins don't matter. Now it is appearances that are the judge of success. Whatever fits your bias. If it was the other way around, the same exact people would be griping about not having won an NCAA game.
BradleyBrave
New member
People always want to improve and take the next step...forward that is. Can you really say we've taken any steps forward as a program since the Sweet 16? Our record has gotten worse every year, and we remain a .500, middle-of-the pack team in our own league despite enjoying more tournament success that one year than all but 2 other teams (WSU, SIU) have enjoyed during the time period. It all goes back to the body of work. If a guy throws a no hitter, but otherwise is a .500 pitcher and has a bad ERA over the course of his career, does that one great game make a him a great pitcher? It's not quite apples-to-apples, but you hopefully get the point.
UNI has had a nice run the last 5 years and if JL had this kind of run I would believe the naysayers would be a lot fewer. I'm starting to change the way I perceive this program going forward because if the Admin does not we maybe a program left out of the big conference reorg. We need to think about what are we doing now and what will it look like the next 2 years. We need some meaningful wins and they only happen in March. If we are not in a position to capitalize on our past sucess then what diffence does it make. I live for today not in the past. IMO UNI has had a sweeter run lately and I have rose colored glasses.
Garland 22
New member
Kind of rediculous to bring up their schedule again even after they beat us twice this season. Unless you want to compare us to the teams they lost to on their schedule.
Plus our schedule wasn't great. We lucked out getting Western Carolina, and had a nice neutral site tourney, but our road schedule wasn't anything to get pumped up about - especially when you go out and get the crap kicked out of you by a bottom dwelling big 12 team.
MacabreMob
New member
I can agree with ya BB, but....
Let me introduce you to the crap I hear. If Bradley had been to the NCAA 4 straight years and lost 1st round - people would tell me it just proves the MVC is a terrible conference and the only reason Bradley was in the NCAA was because they won a weak conference or swept a weak conference tourney.
That's why I feel the 2 wins in 2006 were SO HUGE. Not only did we get there - we kicked some arse.
squirrelgotdead
New member
I don't disagree that's what you'll hear. But I also think you let what other people think about you or your allegiances bother you more than it should.
At any rate, law of averages says if you get there 4 times in 6 years, you'll do some damage.
It's not like UNI's 0-fer has been like a no-show. . .
2004: 65-60 L to Georgia Tech (NCAA Runner-up)
2005: 57-52 L to Wisconsin (Elite 8 )
2006: 54-49 L to Georgetown (Sweet 16, only team to lose to Florida by single-digits)
2009: 61-56 L to Purdue (Sweet 16, lost to Final Four UConn)
I certainly understand wins are more valuable once you get there. But if you get there, you can create a greater history.
Tradition is your last bad performance.
BradleyBrave
New member
I don't really care what people say; but don't those same people now have the strong argument that 2006 was just a fluke for BU and the MVC? Being named on Selection Sunday every year and in a bracket that millions of people see and read every year holds more weight than winning a couple NCAA games once in a blue moon. People who are longtime followers of college basketball think a lot more highly of Bradley basketball in the 80's than they do of Bradley basketball in the 2000's, and we only won 1 NCAA Tournament game in that decade.
I've thought the same thing......we could always schedule like other teams and get the wins. I wouldn't like that, but it would produce the wins everyone wants.
Agreed. We started our decline the year after the Sweet 16. We should have at least returned to that point or gone even further the following year. ;-)
Braves4Life
New member
Maybe after we win the MVC Tournament in a few weeks we will go further this year.
:lol:
MacabreMob
New member
But some really care what Valley Talk and other Message Boards were saying about BradleyFans during the "Fixed Polls".
MacabreMob
New member
Losses are losses - margin of loss and moral victories don't count.
15-16 seeded teams who dominate their conference for 4-5 years and get to the dance also get to bow out to National Champs, Final4 teams, etc.
bigdaddystuck
New member
While I agree you can't please everybody and that if we had the same tourney success as a UNI, there would be people who would want more. I am sure there are UNI fans who want their team to make the tourney and go farther. I don't think any fan, player or coach wants to just make the tourney. However, I don't think you would see many on here, maybe a few, but not as many people who are unhappy right now.
squirrelgotdead
New member
I'm not calling them moral victories. I'm saying just get there and you'll have chances. Law of averages says you'll win sometimes when you get there. And Bradley has a history of overachieving once we get there.
And if you're going to throw somebody out there as an example of failure, at least choose a better one than UNI. My point wasn't that they were "oh so close" but rather, they had to play teams that were all Top 10 teams in the 1st round and not the best example. But even so, you'll have chances. JUST GET THERE.
MacabreMob
New member
I didn't choose UNI and I didn't offer any other.
MacabreMob
New member
Right - You didn't "call" them moral victories. But you made sure to point out margin of victory (or actually, margin of loss) and then mention how the team that beat them did the rest of the way - giving the reader a sense of a "moral victory".
If losses are just losses, then just say "Lost in Rd 1".